"It has been the misfortune of this age, that everything is to be discussed, as if the constitution of our country were to be always a subject rather of altercation than enjoyment." - Edmund Burke anticipates the Neverendum

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The difference the weather makes

"Hello! As you may imagine, I’m writing this from sunny Los Angeles. I love this place - the people are really friendly, the weather is great and the side-streets are immaculately manicured."

Contrast and compare:

"Hello! As you may imagine, I'm writing this from sunny Glasgow. I hate this place - the people are really hostile, the weather is fucking unnatural and evil. It hasn't stopped raining for over a goddam month and I'm going crazy. Oh, and the streets are a fucking disgrace."

Then you come home and read this sort of shit, recommended by the normally sane S & M, who thinks this sort of twaddle represents 'fine ideas' for constitutional reform:

"We don't have universal suffrage, and no-one is advocating it. Therefore there's a choice that has to be made, and a legitimate question is Who should vote?

I believe that people who derive their main form of income from the state (yes, including teachers) should not be given the vote. Either we accept the libertarian position of state as monster, or we treat it as a consensual collective that generates welfare-enhancing policy. In which case the relationship between customer and employee needs to be refined:

Yeah because as a teacher, and therefore an employee of 'the monster', obviously I have no legitimate interest in the overall level of taxation, wether we should join the Euro, whether detention without trial should be extended, whether to have ID cards or not, how much money the government spends on the goddam roads, what sort of school my children will go to, whether to go to war or not... I could go on but I think the point is clear. There's a fine line between 'libertarian' and anarcho-capitalists that have lost their goddam minds.

"What are your holiday plans?", asks Sunny. To get through them without killing someone. But if I fail and get the jail - can I expect 'libertarian' bloggers to defend my right to vote?